This invention relates to a medical device and more particularly to methods and devices for delivering a suture including tissue anchors.
Sutures including tissue anchors have application to a wide variety of surgical procedures including those that require high anchoring strength. For example, one such procedure is directed to female urinary incontinence and involves insertion of a suture to be fixed to bodily tissue under and/or lateral to the urethra to reconstitute the ligamentary support for the urethra. Generally, the suture is inserted into two or more body tissues to couple the body tissues tightly together without knotting the suture.
In other procedures a suture having tissue anchors is coupled to an implant that is configured to support a portion of a body of a patient. In such a procedure, the tissue anchor must be able to support the implant without tearing through the tissue within which it is disposed.
Tissue anchors that are large or have many barbs are often difficult to insert into a tissue. When inserting such tissue anchors, a large incision is often necessary and bulky delivery tools are often used. Using a large incision or bulky delivery tools causes unwanted trauma to the tissue and can weaken the tissue within which the tissue anchor is disposed. Thus, a need exists for devices and methods that can be used to effectively deliver a suture having tissue anchors to a tissue of a patient.